Squires to host vintage base ball match Sunday at Spiegel Grove

FREMONT - The Spiegel Grove Squires, the vintage base ball team at the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library and Museums, will play the Columbus Buckeyes at home on Sunday.

The game begins at 2 p.m. on the lawn behind the historic Hayes Home. Admission is free.

The Squires are base ball devotees who bring to life the sport during its early years. It was in the 1860s that base ball — spelled two words back then — became an organized sport with rules of play and standards for base ball clubs.

Members of the Squires are volunteers. They have studied and learned the methods of play used in the 1860s, including playing bare-handed. Players are called ballists, and they wear period-style uniforms and adopt the language of 19th-century base ball during their matches — as games were called back then.

For the full 2017 schedule, visit rbhayes.org. The Squires are sponsored by Wright Leather Works LLC.

The Hayes Presidential Library and Museums is America’s first presidential library and the forerunner for the federal presidential library system. It is partially funded by the state of Ohio and affiliated with the Ohio History Connection. The Hayes Presidential Library & Museums is located at Spiegel Grove at the corner of Hayes and Buckland avenues.